Security is crucial in making sure your Magento site can continue to grow and thrive. If you experience downtime or a cyber attack, the consequences can be damaging to your brand and to your success.
Magento invests in ongoing security patches and upgrades, but there are steps that every retailer should be taking, either on their own or with a trusted ecommerce agency, in order to make sure their Magento site is as secure as possible.
Whilst typical security guidelines need to be followed, such as having strong passwords and two-factor authentication, we will focus on what steps you can take that are specific to Magento.
What steps can you take to ensure your Magento site is secure?
#1 – Migrate to Magento 2 before the Magento 1 end-of-life deadline
The first step you should be taking is making sure you are migrated to Magento 2 before the Magento 1 end-of-life deadline. Magento 1 will no longer be secure after June 2020 and it is vital that you are no longer on the outdated platform after this date.
Any retailers on Magento 1 after the sunset deadline will be targets for cyber attacks and your customers’ data will not be safe.
You can read more about the risks of remaining on Magento 1 here, or you can reach out to us directly to find out more.
#2 – Make sure you’re upgraded to the latest Magento version
You also need to make sure that, even if you’re on Magento 2, your site is upgraded to the latest version. The vast majority of Magento upgrades will come with a security update and so minimises the risk of hacks, cyber attacks or simply an unstable ecommerce store.
If your site does not have these security patches, your site is at risk. You can read more about why it is important to upgrade to the latest Magento version here.
#3 – Make sure your plugins and modules are all upgraded
Similarly, whilst you may take time to upgrade to the latest Magento version, are you making sure all of your plugins, modules and ecommerce technologies are upgraded with their latest security patches?
Sometimes these security patches may be different to the core Magento patch and so you need to be vigilant in looking out for when these are available and working with your ecommerce agency to schedule in these upgrades.
#4 – Monitor your security and downtime
On an ongoing basis, you can invest in tools that monitor your security and downtime. Tools like Pingdom or StatusCake can monitor your website availability and performance and notify you if there are any issues.
If you have experienced an attack or downtime, you want to know as soon as possible so you can minimise the damage. This will help you best create a plan for resolving any issues.
#5 – Create custom permission roles for your team
With Magento, you can create custom permission roles for your team to only allow access for what they need. You can even create custom roles at the lowest level of permission to reduce your security risk.
You should only give your team the minimum access they need for their role, and only for the duration that they need it. Magento supports this principle with their custom roles.
#6 – Maintain regular backups in case of an attack
Whilst maintaining regular backups will not prevent an attack and will not make your site secure, it is still an important step in your strategic security plan. Your ecommerce agency or cybersecurity partner will be able to help you maintain regular backups and help you explore how frequent these need to be.
If you do experience an attack, you want to revert back to normal as soon as possible so you can continue trading.
#7 – Work closely with your Magento support agency
Your Magento support agency is a valuable resource when it comes to ensuring your site is secure. They will have the knowledge of the platform but also the connections to partners and technologies that will help keep your site as secure as possible.
However, we know that finding the right Magento support agency for you can be difficult. Here are some questions you should ask when looking for a Magento agency.
#8 – Work with a cybersecurity partner
Our final point is to work with the cybersecurity experts. A cybersecurity technology partner like Foregenix can be helpful in working with you to create a plan specifically for keeping your site secure. They can work in partnership with you and your ecommerce agency to make sure the plan fits with your goals and targets.
Keep your Magento site secure
Security is an often overlooked aspect of ecommerce but is one of the most important. It can be easy to sit back and expect the Magento platform to handle your site’s security, but there are certainly actions you can take to make sure your site is as secure as possible.
Find out more about how we manage our Magento support clients here, and if you want to explore how we can work with you to keep your site secure, get in touch.